Cardiff Met Hosts Premiere of Computer Racing Game Designed by Pupils

​The University recently hosted an event to premiere a computer racing game designed by South Wales pupils with the assistance of Cardiff Met students and staff.

The event showcased the culmination of work produced by pupils during the Overdrive PLC Multi School Project. This collaborative project sought to improve primary pupils' digital competency, inspired by a new digitally focused framework for schools that was introduced by the Welsh Government as part of a national curriculum review last year.

Primary Education students, Animation students and Computer Games Design staff have delivered the project since the start of the year through a series of student-led sessions at the primary school. Pupils also visited the University's Llandaff and Cyncoed campuses to learn the new skills they needed to develop the computer game and take part in a real life design process used to develop computer games in the industry.

School design teams pitched their ideas in a dragon's den style environment and the winning idea was made into a 30 second game, coded by the pupils and students and premiered at an event at Cardiff School of Management this week.

New Primary Studies Lecturer, Nick Young said: "This exciting showcase event was a great opportunity for our students and the pupils from the primary school to demonstrate the hard work they have put into this project.

"The project is truly cross curricular and is an exemplar learning process recommended by the Donaldson curriculum reforms. We have successfully covered a wide range of skills identified in the digital competency framework and have worked collaboratively to achieve the goals of this cross curricular project.

"The project has been mutually beneficial for both our university students and the local pupils. It has been extremely successful in allowing students to gain hands-on teaching experience, while the pupils have gained valuable skills that will help them excel in their education and in a digitally advancing world.

"As educators we face a real challenge as we need to prepare these children for jobs that don't yet exist! This is a real opportunity for positive change and I am proud to say that Wales has made some tough decisions and is in the process of putting curriculum reform into effect. The way we teach is being adapted to recognize the need to develop these digital skills for learners to participate in societies of the future."